When God Tells You To Walk Away From Your Dream

“I was talking to a friend and we went back to the question she asked me about being fulfilled. With all of my skills and experience I am realizing that styling isn’t enough.”

In this bonus episode, I dive deep into a conversation about career transitions, finding your purpose, and having the courage to walk away from what you thought was your dream. If you're at a pivotal moment in your career; wondering where to go next or how to move in purpose, this episode is for you.

I Never Wanted To Be A Stylist

When someone finds out that I am no longer a stylist, they are shocked and ask why? The most simple answer is God. I always say that my desire to stop styling happened abruptly, but when I look back over what I was thinking and feeling in 2021, I realize that I was headed in that direction for quite a few months and just didn’t know it at the time.

In college, being a stylist was not on my radar. I had plans to work in sports marketing. I worked as an intern at the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Department and asked the Media Relations department to let me work during basketball games. I was all in for working in sports.

When I went to graduate school, I worked in retail part-time and really enjoyed helping customers find the perfect outfit for an occasion, so I switched my focus from sports marketing to fashion marketing. Post graduate school, a friend saw an article in the Washington Post about Stacy London (from What Not To Wear), creating a stylist network. My friend told me I needed to attend.

And that is when the seed was planted to becoming a stylist.

The Shift

Why quitting styling is shocking to most is because I spent 10 years pursing this career. I took additional training in New York in 2015 following by traveling to the city once a month to serve as an intern and assistant. As many of you know, I packed all of my things and moved across country to Los Angeles to work in the industry. And I had some amazing experiences as both an assistant and lead stylist with my own clients.

But a shift happened during the pandemic and I started asking more questions about this calling God had given me and if it was enough; was this really what I was supposed to be pursuing?

“One of the things that I asked God for was a sign if giving up styling is my sacrificial offering. Following the sermon I watched about God asking us to give up something that is sacred to us; something he gave us, I watched a sermon by Sarah Jakes Roberts called “Let Yourself Go.’ Where we have to let go of who we are used to being in order for God to mold us into who He wants us to be.”

Confirmation Through Resistance

After pursing this career for 10 year, recording fashion related content and posting regularly during the pandemic, I woke up one Monday morning in April 2021, with no desire to do anything styling related. I thought maybe I was tired or burned out from pandemic isolation. I know our callings can and do change over the course of our life, but I’m not sure I ever thought that would happen.

But when styling opportunities started popping up and I turned them all down, I knew the writing was on the wall. I knew that God had decided that my time as a stylist was over. And I was and still am so at peace with that.

I’m often asked if I miss working as a stylist. The answer is simple: No.

Losing Myself

When I reflect on that time, I realize that I had defined myself by what I did and really lost a sense of who I was outside of what I did. If you were to ask me then “Keri, who are you?”, I would’ve answered “a stylist” instead of adjectives like compassionate, generous, ambitious, etc.

Pursing that career had become consuming. And now that it is no longer my focus, I’ve been able to get back in tune with who I am and what I enjoy. My anthem during the height of the pandemic was Jonathan McReynolds “Make Room.” And my life has been a testimony to making room for God to move even when I don’t understand. Trusting that was is ahead of me is better than what’s behind me.

So why did I quit working as a fashion stylist? Because God decided that in order to step into who He wants me to become and the life He wants me to live, it was time for that season/calling to end.

Next Chapter

When I moved back east, the question I asked was “what’s next?” I spent a year getting back to who I was outside of a title, but what was next in terms of my calling?

The idea of a newsletter came to mind, a natural evolution for me as a former blogger and someone who loves to share information and keep people informed. And that’s when The Kickback With Keri was born.

The Lesson

Sometimes what you chase for 10 years isn't actually your final destination; it's the path that gets you where you need to be. Sometimes sacrifice isn't about giving up your dreams, but about releasing one dream to make room for the next.

If you're in a season of transition, take comfort in this: Your pivots aren't failures. They're redirections toward something more aligned with who you're becoming.